CT in History Education, Scotland and Europe

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DOI: 10.1177/08944393042732682005 23: 190Social Science Computer Review

Peter Hillis and Bob MunroScotland and EuropeICT in History Education

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10.1177/0894439304273268SOCIALSCIENCECOMPUTERREVIEWHillis,Munro/ICTINHISTORYEDUCATION

ICT in History Education

Scotland and EuropePETER HILLIS

BOB MUNRO

University of Strathclyde

Advances in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in history teaching and an

increase in thedeploymentof ICTforhistory teachingand learninghave beenreflected inallEuropean

countries, albeitwithvaryingdegreesof success.Developments in theuniversityand school sectorsare

characterized bya growing integration of specific ICT facilities and tools. The growingimportance of

ICTinhistoryteaching andlearning hasbeenfostered bynationalgovernment investmentanda variety

of cross-Europe support initiatives; however, research indicates that its potential has yet to be fully

realized. Research into the impact of ICT on teaching and learning in Scottish schools shows a simi-larly patchy picture to that in other European countries; however, the evaluation of a series of CD-

ROMs confirms the arguments of history educators that effective history software must problematize

the past, so helping pupils develop their research and thinking skills.

Keywords: evaluation; history; ICT; integration; Internet; multimedia; research;

teaching and learning; thinking

In a Europe comprising more than 40 countries, many very small (in size or population),most with their own language, and each with an independent education system, it ishardly surprisingthereis little commonality in the teachingof historylet alonecommonal-

ity of purpose in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in history

teaching andlearning.Thepast 25 years haveseen tremendous advances in theuses to which

ICT can be put in history teaching. There has also been a noticeable increase in the deploy-

ment of ICTforhistory teaching andlearning.These twoimportant trendsarereflected in all

European countries; although, principally because of economic reasons and partly because

of political factors, there has been limited development in the less-advanced countries of

southern and eastern Europe. The United Kingdom was first to explore ICT in history

through its university-based National Development Project in Computer Assisted Learning

(NPDCAL). Although it retains preeminence in the field, significant financial investment

and major curriculum-related development characterize history education in almost every

European nation.

Although some common history themes and topics are studied at the school and univer-

sity level, and in both sectors similar uses are made of ICT, the intensity of focus, depth, and

sophistication of study is markedly different. There is little genuine interaction between thesectors.

Aforementioned language differences and differing national perceptions of historical

events and issues render it unlikely that many common themes and topics of study would

occur. What characterizes ICT in history teaching and learning across Europe is the emerg-

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Social Science Computer Review, Vol. 23 No. 2, Summer 2005 190-205

DOI: 10.1177/0894439304273268

2005 Sage Publications

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ing focused deployment of specific ICTfacilities and tools.The Internet has rapidly become

the critical central resource because it can bring a wealth of source materials into the stu-

dents experience allowing them to work independently on student-centered tasks. Othermeans of conveying multimedia and hypermedia resources are similarly favoredCD-

ROM, DVD, and presentation software (in schools linked to interactive smart boards). Lap-

top use is increasing (Jones-Nerzic, 2001). The rich variety of census material has fostered

widespread use of databases. At the university level, these are large and often coupled to

geographic information system (GIS) facilities.

Therich diversity of ICT-related history teaching and learning takingplace in thesecond-

aryschool sector is illustrated by thefollowing activities reported in government documents

and newspaper articles:

producinga leaflet on thecauses andconsequences of theWallStreetCrashusing desktop pub-lishing software and including appropriate visual images

U.K.pupilsresearching TheHomeFront inRussiaduring the Second WorldWar from Internetsites and e-mail contact with Russian school pupils

studentsin a ShetlandIslandssecondary school exploring, with schools in Germany,Japan,andSouth Africa, the topic of to what extent did the 1910 constitution lay the foundation for segre-gation in South Africa?

pupils investigating the characteristics of rural life in the 19th century using local populationcensus returns

using presentationsoftwareto setthe context fordiscussionon therolesof leaders of victoriouspowers at Versailles

pupilsanalyzing spreadsheetsof Casualties inWorld WarI to identifytrendsof injury anddeath pupils from schools in six European countries collaboratively creating an encyclopedia of the

First World War students creating a hyperlinked multimedia glossary of the Industrial Revolution.

Similarly, an analysis of the papers presented to the 15th Conference of the International

Association for History and Computing at the University of Troms in 2003 reflected the

impressive range of ICT use in the university sector. These papers also demonstrate thatmany researchprojects into ICTand history in theuniversitysector focus onrelatively small-

scale studies within single institutions rather than national or international investigations:

using the Internet to teach the theme of Stalin and Stalinism mapping aspects of the urban history of Aarhus (Denmark) in the 19th centuryan example of

GIS in spatial analysis of a multisource database learninghistoryby writinghistorytheLowCountries History Museum (adding to thehistori-

ography of the host web site at University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands) computerizing Norwegian local historythe old farm and genealogical history genre studying migration in Albania in the early 20th century (from the 1918 census) data warehousinga new approach for historians (University of Portsmouth, England) creating an electronic historical atlas of Derevskaya Pyatina,Great Novogorod Region, 15th to

18th century applying digital elevation modeling to the study of railways and environment in Victorian

England.

These uses illustrate how ICT can infuse the history curriculum. Some uses are more suited

to particular levels of intellectual and conceptual development, some are constrained by the

availability of technology, and some are influenced by the whim of fashion.

The global classroom example is a case in point. Schools in the remote Shetland Islands

have attracted generous financial support resulting in a disproportionate level of ICT

resourcing(includingvideo-conference facilities)compared to mostU.K. mainland,and the

Hillis, Munro / ICT IN HISTORY EDUCATION 191



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majority of European, schools. To address the historical investigation fully, the pupils

videoconference with schools in South Africa that are very poorly resourced. The South

African pupils have to use, at great inconvenience and no littleexpense, video-conferencingresources of the University of Cape Town. Video-conferencing is therefore very much a

future resource for history teaching and learning.

Similarly, interactive smart board technology is viewed as a major growth area in U.K.

education. The government has pledged to introduce them in every school. History teachers

believe they enhance teaching and learning and have the potential to improve the quality of

pupil-teacher interaction, promote effective questioning and decisionmaking, developmod-

eling skills, andstimulatethe pace of learning. Incredibly, only limited usehasbeen made of

this resource at university level.

ICTis,however, an increasingly important component of history teaching andlearning at

the tertiary level. Students arrive at a college or universitywith wide experience of using ICT

andan expectationthat it will feature extensively in their courses. Many history courses now

require students to conduct web-guided research. Course lecture notes and supportive

resource materials are often mounted on virtual learning environments (VLE) to help stu-dents learn at their convenience. Institutionally adaptable interactive courseware (often

developed through national projects, notably the U.K. History Courseware Consortium;

Anderson, 2000) permeates many courses. An industry has built up around the creation of

concept or content-bound learningobjectssmallcourseware-oriented modules or learning

fragments. These are progressively being integrated in courses to create blended learning

approaches. Students are set online retrieval exercises based on electronic archives,

hypermedia documents, and large-scale databases andareencouraged to participate in other

online activitiese-mail, bulletin boards, online chat, and collaborative projects.

This increased ICT use has been driven by a growing appreciation that it can deliver

achievable learning benefitsinformation can be integrated into a common format;

Internet-accessible resourcescan enhance lectures, exposingstudents to primary source col-

lections and promoting research; student-centered environments can be created to suit the

pace and style of individual students, overcome barriers to access, and encourage them to

publish their research findings (DenBeste, 2003). Hypermedia delivery can stimulate moti-

vation and focus attention on critical material; and, very important, with effective ICT

resource construction and integration, staff can be released for more intensive teaching.

In addition to a considerable body of research investigating the most effective ways to

integrate ICT into history teaching and learning in university courses, three other major

related areas are the focus of research activity by European academics.

First, there is research and development associated with the creation of digital histories

and the mounting of these varied but complementary historical data sources on the web

together with suitableuser interfaces. These specific collections of resources offerhypermedia

data sets for other researchers to examine and analyze, or indeed, contribute to (Dorn,

Garskova, & Heiko, 2004). While theseare being created in most European countries, there

are some significant projects in the United Kingdom. The Moving Here web site (www.movinghere.org.uk) represents the collective efforts of staff in 30 museums, archive

centers, and libraries who are digitizing their collections (ultimately up to 200,000 original

sources) related to 200 years of migration to England (mainly from the Caribbean, Jewish,

Irish,andSouthAsiancommunities). TheRoyalGeographical Society is toprovide full pub-

lic access to some major collections, notably, for historians, Images of the British Empire

(www.unlockingthearchives.rgs.org). At the University of Sheffield, theHumanities Research Institute is developing a searchable web site of 18th-century sources

192 SOCIAL SCIENCE COMPUTER REVIEW



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on life in London that will extend and round out its current coverage of more than 1000,000

criminal trialsheldatLondons OldBailey courthouse (www.oldbaileyonline.org).

Thesecond researcharea extends thecreationof data sources. It focuses on theanalysisofdemographic or socially oriented databases (population census, parish registers, land hold-

ing records) to identify patterns, relationships,and explanations. This researchactivityoften

capitalizes on the resources that have been built up over many years by nationally funded

centers. Most European countries have funded such centers. In Norway, the Historical Data

Centre in the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Troms (www.rhd.uit.no/index.html) and the Digital Archive (a collaborative venture involving the RegionalState Archivesand theHistory Department of theUniversity of Bergen) areexcellent exam-

ples. The Danish Data Archive offers the Dansk Demografisk Database (http://ddd.dda.dk) and the Historical Sample of the Netherlands maintained by the InternationalInstitute of Social History (IISH) has a representative sample of 80,0000 people born in the

Netherlands during the period 1812 to 1922 (http://www.ilsg.nl/~hsn/). TheNetherlands Historical Data Archive (NHDA) collects historical data sets created by Dutch

researchers concerning theNetherlands andprovides a registerof other sources used in theircollaborative projects (www.niwi.knaw.nl/en/geschiedenis/). Their XtensiblePast project is currently exploring XML (xtensible markup language) as a means for access

to historical research data and a strategy for digital preservation of records. In the United

Kingdom, theUnitedKingdom Data Archive,based at theUniversity of Essex, is host to the

Arts and Humanities Data Service History (AHDS History; http://ahds.ac.uk/history). An extensive set of collections of data sets is available for researchers to accessand investigate. The AHDS History group has been specifically set up to expand and enrich

the data pool through the development of thematic special collections, develop online data

and metadata delivery systems, and allow researchers, and indeed thegeneral public, access

to the increasingly rich data sources.

Linked to the aforementioned research areas is the current interest in using GIS with his-

torical data. This may be in its traditional role of GIS as an archival or cataloging tool for

pulling together data sources or, increasingly, for qualitative research purposesmapping

and interpreting and analyzing spatial features of historical data (Gregory, 2002). GIS pro-

vides a hub technology around which databases can be structured and allows integration of

the data from different sources using multiple layersfor example, different time periods

when census information or agricultural information was gathered. GIS has made a tremen-

dous contribution to projects such as the Perseus Project and the Valley of the Shadow Pro-

ject on the American Civil War. It is considered one of the most important growth

technologies for aiding historical research.

Growth of ICT in history teaching and learning in the school sector has been driven by

national government investment initiatives.Thesehave principally been designed to foster a

knowledge, information, or e-society. To effect, most European governments have imple-

mented a fourfold strategy:

allocating advanced computer hardware (and peripheral resources) stimulating software availabilityby creating national software packages networking schools to ensure Internet access providing teacher training in IC.

Although the approach has been consistent, the level of resource provision and the

emphasis given to each aspectof strategicdevelopment has varied. In most cases the levelof




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support given to history teachers has been disappointing. However, broader initiatives have

complemented governmental action often providing specific help.

National learning networks, working with curriculum support agencies, provide adviceon integrating ICT into the curriculum, identify subject-specific ICT resources, advise on

new developments (digital video, VLE), and publish assessments of web sites. Some net-

works are principally distributors of educational information; for example, the U.K.

National Grid for Learning hosts a virtual teachers center featuring excellent coverage of

History Using ICT (http://curriculum.becta.org.uk). This eases new teachersinto using ICT gradually yet offers strong support to extend the ICT competence and confi-

dence of those who aremore established. Other networks facilitate communication, encour-

aging teacher and pupil participation and inter-school collaboration (European Schoolnet,

2003). Swedens Schoolnet and the Netherlands Kennisnet are excellent examples.

The European Schoolnet hosts a Virtual School History Department, staffed by expert

history teachers, to identify innovative approaches to the use of ICT and history teaching.

The online expertise includes project suggestions, teachingplans, online resources, and sup-

port for collaborative projects.The Moscow-based UNESCO Institute for Information Techniques in Education hosts

expert meetings, in-service courses and innovative projects. Their forum on History Educa-

tion and New Information Technologies resolved to

train history teachers in the use of new technologies create dedicated web pages comprising historical documents, links to European resources,

teacher advice, and exemplars of ICT use in history collate and disseminate best practice with regard to national pilot projects of ICT in history establish workshops to support cooperative development of ICT integration into history

curricula

The European History E-Learning Project (E-HELP) is designed to assist teachers and

teacher trainers exploit the potential of ICT and improve the use of ICT and the Internet in

European history classrooms. It aims to develop a community of history teachers with

advanced ICT skills prepared to work in collaborative virtual communities. This will be

effected through research and evaluation, the creation of a multilingual web site and discus-

sion forum, the development of innovative online history resources for teaching the Euro-

pean dimension, and residential in-service courses on ICT and Internet in the history

classroom.

Thanks to these many initiatives, teachers of history across Europe are using ICT. In

1998, EUROCLIO (theEuropean Association of History TeachersAssociation) foundonly

the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Finland were advanced in their use of ICT in history

teaching and learning. Many other countries were embarking on activity, and Central and

Eastern European countries were nonstarters. By 2001, EUROCLIO found that in 31 of the

40 countries surveyed, the computer was more used for teaching and learning than in 1998.

Indeed 83% of history teachers used computers in their classrooms, with 72% using CD-ROM and46% using DVD (A. Gisling, EUROCLIO, personal correspondence, October 22,

2003). Twenty-three percent used the computer as a daily-used classroom tool, 81% used it

for individual student needs,and41% used it as anassessment tool. U.K.research found reg-

ular and periodic use of a small number of history-oriented ICT applications in 75% of

schools. In Scotland, 70% of history teachers surveyed used ICT with the full range of

classes;however, that incidenceof usewas limited(30%daily, 31%weekly, 39% monthly).




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Despite this reported progress, government initiatives have offered limited specific sup-

port to history teachers. Similar to most social sciences, history is seldom a priority subject

for ICT development. History departments generally lack quality hardware and softwareresources andfind it difficult to gain regular, widespread accessto Internet facilities.History

teachers are largely self-taught in ICT. In the United Kingdom, hardware investment has

resulted in the provision of one computer for every five pupils; however, that level of provi-

sion is never available in history classrooms. In Scotland,educational software resourcesare

commissioned through Learning and Teaching Scotland; however, few are developed for

history. Many history teachers consider the extensive and intensive in-service teacher train-

ingofferedin theUnited Kingdom as inappropriate. Inmany European countriesthe thrustis

to teach students about computer science or informatics rather than to support theintegration

of ICT in subjects and promote effective teaching and learning with ICT. Without coherent

guidance, leadership, and direction, history teachers have had to fend for themselves,

acquire the competence and confidence to use ICT, identify appropriate classroom uses,

locate relevant software and courseware, and integrate ICT effectively into a crowded

curriculum.Consequently, although ICT has always offered, or has been considered to offer, the

potential to revolutionize the nature of history teaching and learning, there is limited evi-

dence that this potential has yet been realized. E-HELP (2004) commented that current

practice reflects theuncertainty of teachers and teacher trainers unsureof howto exploit this

potential (p.1) andU.K.government research noted that ICT initiativeshavehada limited

effect on history . . . few history departments have reached a situation where teaching and

learning using ICT is consistently good with a positive impact on pupilsprogress (Office

for Standards in Education [Ofsted], 2004, p. 4).

In many respects, the position in Scotland mirrors that in other European countries. A

questionnaire completed by ICT coordinators in Scottish primary and secondary schools

identified 10 obstacles standing in the way of using new technologies in the classroom. Fig-

ure 1 represents the main findings.

Two of these obstacles related to the paucity of appropriate software, observations that

reflect Terry Haydns (1996)assertionthat many history programs tendedtofocuson activ-

ities which involved the correct memorization and ascription of information (p. 17). Small

countries face specific difficulties in obtaining relevant programs because the market is too

limited formanypublishers.This hasbeenoneof thedrivingforces behindthe production by

a team ledby Peter Hillis at theUniversity of Strathclyde of a seriesof multimedia programs

relating to specific themes within Scottish history. These programs are the following:

MovingHouse (1992):Thisexamines patternsof migrationwithinthe urban settingof 19th- and20th-century Glasgow.

Glasgow, A Tale of TwoCities (1994): Studentsuse thisprogram to study contrasting lifestylesin Victorian Glasgow.

Tiree, Famine and Clearance, 1840-1900 (1996): Tiree, a small island off the west coast of

Scotland, provides a case study into the clearances in 19th-century Scotland. Doon the Watter(1998 and 2002): The title of this program is taken from the phrase used to

describe holidays to towns and villages along the River Clyde. In Victorian and EdwardianScotland going doon the watter was the most prominent example of popular culture.

Auld Reekie and the Dear Green Place (2001): This program takes its name from the termsgiven to old Edinburgh and Glasgow and contains a wide range of resources relating to life inScotlands main cities.

Changing Scottish Society, 1880-1939 (2003). This CD-ROM examines the ways in whichindustrialization and urbanization led to changes in Scotland with particular reference to work,family life, education, housing, religion, temperance, leisure, and entertainment.




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A second driving force behind these programs relates to changes with the teaching and

learning of history that emphasize reference to primary and secondary sources within the

context of developing knowledge, understanding, and skills. Skills can be broadly catego-

rized as investigative, ranging from planning and carrying out the task to reviewing and

reporting. Students must also evaluate sources and by the end of secondary Year 2 (student

age 14 years) show awareness of bias, exaggeration, unreliable data etc. (Scottish Execu-

tive,2000). Consequently, each program contains a range of primary andsecondary sources

including film, photographs, personal reminiscences, music, census databases, and paint-

ings, allcontained withinan explanatory text andsuggestedactivities designed to encourage

discussion, debate, and critical thinking alongside the more traditional historical skills of

analysis, inquiry, and extended writing. The following examples taken from the chapter

Women at Work Within Changing Scottish Society, 1880-1939, illustrate some of these

features. Figure 2 contains a photograph showing workers, predominantly women, in aDundee jute factory. The card suggests a related point for discussion and a search for jute

workers in the 1881 Census database for Dundee (Figure 3).

Figure 4 contains part of an account given by a woman who worked in Baxters jute fac-

tory. The account has also been recorded for the CD-ROM.

Womenworked ina range ofother occupations asshown inFigures 5 and 6 thatholdpho-

tographs, film, and personal reminiscences.


Figure 1: Obstacles to ICT(informationandcommunicationtechnologies)Use, Primary and Sec-ondary Coordinators

SOURCE: University of Strathclyde and Northern College of Education (2000).



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Figures 2 through 6 highlight the opportunity given by multimedia to incorporate within

one resource a wide range of different resources. According to Schick (1996),

assembling these materials would be possible in a classroom, but coordinating them would

prove a nightmare. Doing it every class day for months would challenge even teachers with the

best of intentions. . . . Multimedia CDs can thus provide teachers and students with invaluable

resources unavailable (ina practical sense) to themin conventional modes of teaching. (p.247)

Other historians have written widely on the advantages of ICT to teaching and learning.

Ben Walsh (1998) described the power of the word processor to move beyond typing to

search, annotate, organize, classify, draft and reorganize, all vital tools for the historian.

Alaric Dickinson (1998) claimed that ICT helps pupils widen the range of data used in ana-

lyzing evidence and testing claims. James McArthur (1990) expanded on this latter facility

by discussing use by pupils of a database for the 1851 Census to frame questions around

issues such as family size, place of birth, and occupation. These translated into database

searches after which pupils presented their findings (McArthur, 1990).

Some proponents of ICT argue that it would have a more radical impact on learning and

teaching. Landow(1992) claimed that electronic linking shifts theboundaries between one

text and another as wellas between the author and the reader and between the teacher and the

student (p. 19). According to Lanny Dryden (1994):


Figure 2: Card Illustrating the Importance of Women in the Jute Industry



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Hypermedia has the potential to transform the structure of both classroom and entire

institutionsschools and universitiesand to make the teaching and practice of literature,thinkingand behavior a truly democratic enterprise thatrespects andservestheneeds ofboththe

individual learner and the larger community of learners. (p. 283)

For MartynWild(1989), thedevelopment of new technologies focuses criticalattention

on the learner, the learning process, and the changing role of the teacher in that process

(p.23). Wildwent on to outline sevenareaswherenew technology transformed teaching and

learning from child-centered learning to pedagogy where the teacher is no longer seen as

thefont of allknowledge, butis nowthefacilitator, providingsupport where it is appropriate

and guidance when necessary (p. 234).

Notwithstanding these claims, the pendulum more recently has swung in a skeptical

direction. In their review of published literature on hypermedia as an educational technol-

ogy, Andrew DillonandRalph Gabbard (1998) concludedthat clearly thebenefits from the

use of hypermedia technology in learning scenarios appear to be very limited and not inkeeping with the generally euphoric reaction to this technology in the professional arena

(p.324). Similar arguments were putforward by Bettina FabosandMichaelYoung (1999) in

an evaluation of telecommunication exchanges that were lauded by educational researchers

and industry experts for enhancing writing and collaboration skills, increasingmulticultural

awareness, andexpanding futureeconomicpossibilities.As we have seen, however, many of

theseexpectedbenefits are inconclusive,overly optimistic, and even contradictory (Fabos &

Young, 1999). Todd Oppenheimer (1997) also disputed many of the claims made for ICT


Figure 3: Card 1 for theSearchfor Jute Workersin Dundeeas RecordedFromthe1881 Census



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when there is no good evidence that most uses of ICT significantly improve teaching and

learning, yet school districts are cutting programsmusic, art, physical educationthat

enrich childrens lives to make room for this dubious nostrum (n.p.). Oppenheimer also

criticized claims that ICT led to improved pupil performance because any improvements

usually resulted from changed teaching methods noticeably project-based learning, rather

than the new technologies.

Tom Conlon(1999)outlined theseven deadlysinsoften committedby theadvocates of

ICT. These were to be uncritical, be unfair in sharing out the benefits, make misleading

claims, fixate on skills, place systems before people, believe technology is neutral, and lose

perspective. He reserved special criticism for claims that ICT changed the teacher from

sage to guide that simplified the traditional role of the teacher (Conlon, 1999).

Evaluation of our CD-ROMs by pupils and teachers throws light on this wider debatebut

suggests that ICT can enhance teaching and learning. Conlon (1999), however, was correct

to warn against losingperspectivebecause it is often very difficult to attributegains incogni-

tion and skills solely to ICT when the computer is one of several tools used by the teacher.

Nevertheless, this usage arises from sound pedagogical reasons, and the lessons we have

learned provide pointers for future developments.

Donald Kirkpatricks (1994) four levels of evaluation provide the criteria against which

to measure the effectiveness of the CD-ROMs. These criteria covered reactions to the pro-

grams, the impact on learning and transferable skills alongside the overall results

(Kirkpatrick, 1994). The evaluation was qualitative based on peer and journal reviews, sub-

jective questionnaires, and interviews. The evaluation did not attempt to measure improved


Figure 4: Account given by a Worker in a Dundee Jute Factory



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pupil performance through use of the programs; however, it did attempt to gauge the impact

on knowledgeand skill development. Here, although it is difficult to attributegains solely to

ICTbecause itwasonlyoneof severalresources employed in theclassroom, itwill beargued

that this stemmed from sound principles of teaching and learning. Ninety-two pupils and

three teachers completed a questionnaire after using the CD-ROM, Auld Reekie and the

Dear Green Place. Evaluation ofDoon the Watterwascarried out with primary sevenpupils

(age 11 to 12 years) in two schools. In every school the CD-ROMs provided the central

resource for the topic butwith theadditionof other activities andsources such as books, arti-

facts,and fieldstudies.A trip down theRiver Clyde on board theWaverley, thelast sea-going

paddlesteamer in theworld, gavepupilsin oneschool experienceof goingdoon thewatter.

Pupils worked in groups using the CD-ROMs because access was restricted to three or

four computers per class in most schools. One school, however, had a computer laboratory

where pupils worked individually with the programs, although for many associated tasks,

such as makinga wall frieze, group work wasthe norm. As is discussedbelow, this dual prac-

tice influenced pupil evaluation of the programs. Nevertheless, teachers in every school

chose selected sections of each program for the topic: Health and Housing, Food and Meal-

times, Education, Clothing, and A Servants Life were the most popular in Auld Reekie and

the Dear Green Place because they were central to an understanding of life in Victorian

Edinburgh and Glasgow. This selective approach also reflected the time available for the

topic of approximately 4 hours per week spread during a term of 12 weeks.


Figure 5: Examples of Other Work Taken by Women



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Pupils and reviewers reacted enthusiastically to the CD-ROMs. Only three pupils

recorded that they had not enjoyed working with Auld Reekie and the Dear Green Place.

Table 1 records the main reasons given by students.

Pupils developed these reasons when asked to note the advantages of using computers

with most comments relating to themultimedia dimensionand interactivity. Pupils rated the

databases, film, video, photographs, and maps as the most useful resources with the census

databases receiving the highest rating. One pupils comment was typical: The databases

helped me because I could see what it was like and they tell you about the people who lived

there. And with the maps it shows you. It brought it to life. Many pupils noted the advan-

tages of a CD-ROM compared to a book because Auld Reekie was better than a book and

youcould look at the information better. Of pupilsin oneschool, 53%noted that thefacility

to type answers andnotes into theprogram wasa significant advantagebecause it provided a

recordof important information. Nonetheless, this wasalso noted as a disadvantagebecause

the notes could not be saved within the read-only memory of a CD. Pupils printed out their

notes, and in Changing Scottish Societynotes can be saved through the provision of a sepa-

rate file copied to the users hard drive during installation. This serves as a reminder that not

all reactions were positive. Some pupils became frustrated with their computers that kept

crashing whereas the small number who did not enjoy the program found it boring,

complicated, and requiring too much reading.

Teachers reactions were generally positive. The programs were regarded as easy to use

with the exception being the inability to save notes. Teacherscomments on the multimedia

dimension reflected those of their pupils: I think they have enjoyed the films and the pic-


Figure 6: Film of Women Working in a Biscuit Factory



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tures and the fact they could jump in and out of different things and see cine-films of the

period. In his review ofAuld Reekie and the Dear Green Place, Haydn (2003) also com-

mented on the range of sources: The combination of primary sources, maps, census data-

bases, and suggestions for pupil activities away from the computer means that the program

can be used in a variety of contexts and time frames (p. 245).

Evaluating the impact on learning proved more problematic because it was difficult to

isolate the impact of the programs from other sources such as textbooks. As Table 2 indi-

cates, students could list many of the main features of Victorian housing and holidays at the

end of the exposure to Auld Reekie and the Dear Green Place.

The effective teaching and learning of history depends on pupils studying a variety of

sources, and a situation whereby ICT was the only point of information would diminish the

subject. Proponents of ICT in history may have to accept that it is difficult to quantify its

impact on learning; however, this results from sound pedagogical reasons.

The questionnaire asked pupils to rate on a scale of 1 to 8 how working with Auld Reekie

had improved a range of skills; and here it is possible to be more confident about the impact

of theprogramson Kirkpatricks (1994) transfer level. Theresults from SchoolB (see Figure7) were similar to the other schools except that in School A, Working by Myself was given a

higher rating because pupils could work individually in a computer laboratory.

These results also reflect thehigh ratinggiven to thecensus databaseswithin themultime-

dia dimension of the programs. Looking for Information corresponded to the research

dimension noted by pupils in Table 1 above and was a transferable skill frequently noted by

teachers:


TABLE 1

Reasons Given by Students When Asked to Explain Why They Had Enjoyed

Auld Reekie and the Dear Green Place

Reasons Percentage

Working by myself or doing my own research 19

Finding out more about the Victorians in different, interesting, and fun ways 16

Helped you learn 11

Working on the computer 11

You could see what it was like 8

Interesting to find out how they lived 7

TABLE 2:

Key Features of Victorian Housing as Listed by Students Using

Auld Reekie and the Dear Green Place

Features of Victorian Housing

Overcrowding or too many people sleeping in one room.

No toilets or open sewers.

Rich houses were big or well built.

Working class housing in bad condition.

Poor people ill or died young.

Different from modern times.



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It has opened up an avenue of research which the children arent used to and havent actually

used before so that in itself is a great advantage. Its also getting them used to using a computer

for research and just learning the skills they need to do that.

This, in turn, influenced the teachersrole in theclassroom: A group of children, when set a

task, could work well together with the minimum of teacher input. Furthermore: One ofmost important parts was the experience of the teacher and student learning together about

the class topic.

Theseprograms did influencethe relationshipbetween teachers and pupils; however, this

did not harm the learning process. Moreover, the programs enhanced key historical skills,

namely, investigation and research, adding to pupils enjoyment of history.

Kirkpatricks (1994) fourth and final level of evaluation related to results as defined in

financial terms with the benefits, in terms of increased production and higher profits, out-

weighing the costs. It is difficult to apply these criteria to the CD-ROMs that were sold on a

nonprofitbasis with permission to include many of the films and photographs only givenon

the understanding that the CD-ROMs were an educational rather than a commercial enter-

prise. The cost of producing each CD-ROM of between 25,000 and 30,000 was not

recouped through sales; however, the time involved in research and writing was covered

through the authors earnings from the Research Assessment Exercise. This Exerciserewards academic staff members in British universities on the quality of their public output.

It is also difficult to quantify educational gain in financial terms. Larry Cuban (2001)

described the joys of teaching or the teachablemoment when an antagonistic student

accepts help or when a group of students volunteer to work after school on a project. Teach-

ers reflected on the impact of the programs on pupils: They also got quite a lot out of the

databases . . . being able to research who lived in particular houses and the different jobs that

they had. I think they found that quite fascinating. Commenting onDoon the Watterand the


Figure 7: School B: Improvement of SkillsNumber of Pupils Rating Skill Improvement in theTop Two Categories



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supporting activities, a teacher noted, [The pupils] thoroughly enjoy these activities and it

brings it all a little more to life and they get fed-up just writing or researching from

books . . . so it just encourages them even moreand keeps their interest. It is very difficult tocreate a cost-benefit analysis for these and other similar observations.

CONCLUSION

John Clare,educationeditorofThe Daily Telegraph (2003), commentedon the impactof

recent ICTinitiatives: The 2 million theGovernment haspoured into wiringschools to the

information superhighway and giving pupils access to computers has still had no

discernableeffect on standardsof teaching or learning(p.15). This maybe true of thelarge-

scale investment; however, we would argue that the example set by the CD-ROMs on Scot-

tish history provide some general pointers for deriving benefits, in terms of teaching and

learning, from ICT.

Cuban (2001) outlined eight questions that teachers ask of ICT:

Is the machine or software simple enough for me to learn quickly? Is it versatile, that is, can it be used in more than one situation? Will the program motivate my students? Does the program contain skills that are connected to what I am expected to teach? Are the machine and software reliable? If the system breaks down, is there someone else who will fix it? Will the amount of time I have to invest in learning touse the system yield a comparable return

in student learning? Will student use of computers weaken my classroom authority?

The evaluation of the CD-ROMs indicates, where feasible, a generally positive reply to

these questions. The answer to the final concern is that ICT can change the relationship

between teachers and pupils but in positive ways that do not necessarily weaken classroom

authority. Nonetheless, the apparent success of these programs also indicates more generalcriteria for effective software. Programs must be genuinely multimedia with a wide variety

of primary and secondarysources. There is little, if any, gain to producing a book by another

name. These sources must be presented in a visually attractive design with careful attention

to color and layout. Our work, however, clearly indicates that success is inextricably linked

to the impact on teaching and learning. ICT and multimedia must develop thinking and

researchskills. In thecontextof history education, this relates to theprocess of framing ques-

tions, funding, answers, and presenting findings. As one pupil commented on Doon the

Watter, We first looked at the census which was interesting then we went deeper, looking at

peoples lives and how they lived. We also found out where theywould go on holiday. I found

out a lot of information. Researching and thinking through issues underpin effective teach-

ing and learning in history and the social sciences. ICT should follow this example.

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Peter Hillis is a professor of history education at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. His research

interests focus on 19th- and 20th-century Scottish church history and the impact of ICT on teaching andlearning. His major publications include seven multimedia CD-ROMs. He has also served as a principal

assessor for the Scottish Qualifications Authority andwas president of the Scottish Associationof Teachers

of History. He may be reached at e-mail: [email protected].

Bob Munrois a reader in computer education at the University of Strathclyde where he is particularly inter-

ested in the uses of ICT in the social sciences and teacher education. He is currently involved in two major

ICT research projects and contributes to the work of the International Federation for Information Process-

ing (IFIP). He may be reached at e-mail: [email protected].


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